Data from: Temperature influences lipid content in the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus

Data files for manuscript titled "Temperature influences lipid content in the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus".
Excel file with 3 tabs: Metadata, Monthly Lipid Content, and 10 Day Lipid Content. Metadata is contained within Excel file that describes all variables for each tab.
Abstract from paper:
Temperature is one of the most important environmental conditions affecting physiological processes in ectothermic organisms like ants. Yet we often lack information on how certain physiological traits co-vary with temperature across time. Here, we test predictions on how one trait—lipid content—co-varies with temperature using a conspicuous, ground-dwelling harvester ant. We focus on lipid content as fat bodies are metabolically active tissues that are important for storing and releasing energy in response to demand, which could be vital for survival under variable temperatures. From March to November, we extracted lipids from surface workers of 14 colonies while simultaneously recording ground temperature. We first assessed if lipid content was highest during cooler temperatures when ants were less active and less metabolically stressed. In doing so, we found that lipid content of ants declined almost 70% from cool months (November lipid content = 14.6%) to hot months (August lipid content = 4.6%). We next assessed if lipid levels from a group of ants collected at a single time point could change by placing individuals into environmental chambers set at 10, 20, and 30°C (i.e. the approximate span of average temperatures from March to November). Temperature again had a significant impact such that after 10 days, lipid content of ants in the hottest chamber (30°C) had decreased more than 75%. While intraspecific variation in physiological traits often follows seasonal patterns, our results suggest fluctuations in temperature may account for a portion of the variance observed in traits like lipid content.

本数据集包含题为《温度影响红采集蚁（Pogonomyrmex barbatus）脂质含量》的论文数据文件。数据文件以 Excel 格式呈现，包含三个标签页：元数据、月度脂质含量和10日脂质含量。元数据标签页位于 Excel 文件中，详细描述了每个标签页中的所有变量。摘要如下：
温度是影响变温动物如蚂蚁等生理过程的最重要的环境条件之一。然而，我们往往缺乏关于某些生理特征如何随时间与温度协同变化的详细信息。在本研究中，我们利用一种明显的地面生活采集蚁，检验了关于某一特征——脂质含量——如何与温度协同变化的预测。我们关注脂质含量，因为脂肪体是代谢活跃的组织，对于存储和释放能量以应对需求至关重要，这对于在多变温度下生存可能至关重要。从三月到十一月，我们在同时记录地面温度的情况下，从14个群体的表面工蚁中提取脂质。我们首先评估了在蚂蚁活动较少、代谢压力较小的较冷温度下，脂质含量是否最高。在此过程中，我们发现蚂蚁的脂质含量从凉爽月份（十一月脂质含量为14.6%）下降至炎热月份（八月脂质含量为4.6%）几乎减少了70%。接下来，我们评估了在单一时间点收集的一组蚂蚁的脂质水平是否会因将个体放入设定为10°C、20°C和30°C（即三月到十一月平均温度的大致范围）的环境舱中而改变。温度再次产生了显著影响，经过10天后，最热舱（30°C）中蚂蚁的脂质含量下降了超过75%。尽管物种内生理特征的变异往往遵循季节性模式，但我们的结果表明，温度的波动可能解释了脂质含量等特征观察到的部分变异性。